Daily Archives: October 28, 2009

RTM members said they were dismayed that the school administrators’ union had not struck a similar compromise with the Board of Education, and instead decided to pursue more generous terms than what was initially proposed.

“The feeling was that we were asking the (school) administrators to help us, and they were just like, ‘Forget it,'” Caldwell said. “People felt other unions were being treated inequitably.”

The teachers’ union has avoided major concessions on wages and benefits this fiscal year, despite pressure from the school board.

New Lebanon School Principal Gene Nyitray, a GOSA co-president, defended his union’s decision to pursue a contract that he believes reflects the high expectations and work load placed on school administrators.

“We’re sensitive to the economic situation, and we respect the work of our colleagues, but this is a managerial union with unique leadership responsibilities,” he said. “People entrust their children to us, and that’s an awesome responsibility.”

The administrators’ wage increase next fiscal year is expected to take a more than $100,000 chunk out of the district’s roughly $126 million budget in the 2010-11 year, according to board member Steve Anderson. He said it was too early to tell what areas of the education budget could be affected by that.

Between administrators’ salaries and benefits, he said, the new labor agreement is expected to cost the town, on average, nearly $8.5 million per year over the next three years. That marks an annual “cost of contract” of, on average, 1.09 percent over the current contract.

“The key is to understand how important it is for (state) arbitrators to realize that Greenwich cannot always lay golden eggs,” Anderson said. “Every town’s resources are finite.”

Under its 2007-10 contract, approved by the board following negotiations in 2007, administrators received a general wage increase of 3.5 percent in each of the three school years.

That contract also included a performance-pay component during the first two school years that was eliminated in the third in an effort by the school board to come up with additional savings in the 2009-10 education budget.

Under the current contract’s seniority-based salary structure, after three years, the high school headmaster makes more than $167,000; the high school’s five housemasters make nearly $136,000; middle school principals make about $152,000; and elementary principals make about $144,000.

Federal support for companies such as GM, Chrysler Group LLC and Bank of AmericaCorp. has come with baggage: Companies in hock to Washington now have the equivalent of 535 new board members — 100 U.S. senators and 435 House members.

Since the financial crisis broke, Congress has been acting like the board of USA Inc., invoking the infusion of taxpayer money to get banks to modify loans to constituents and to give more help to those in danger of foreclosure. Members have berated CEOs for their business practices and pushed for caps on executive pay. They have also pushed GM and Chrysler to reverse core decisions designed to cut costs, such as closing facilities and shuttering dealerships.

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota persuaded GM to rescind a closure order for a large dealership in Bloomington, Minn. In Tucson, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords did the same for Don Mackey, owner of a longstanding Cadillac dealership with 80 employees. Rep. Giffords argues it made sense, even for GM, to keep the Mackey dealership, which sold 750 cars last year. “All I did was to help get GM to focus on his case,” she says.

Lawmakers say it’s their obligation to guard the government’s investments, ensure that bailed-out firms are working in the country’s interests and protect their constituents.

Executives say congressional demands gobble up time and make a rocky business environment even more unpredictable. Bank chief executives say incessant calls from Capitol Hill, combined with threats of legislation, were among the main incentives for them to pay back money injected by the government and escape Washington’s clutches.

Thomas Geisel, chief executive of New Jersey’s Sun Bancorp Inc., says the bank paid back its federal money in June because of legislation that imposed limits on bankers’ pay, among other areas. “Lawmakers let emotion and ego get in the way of making good business decisions,” he says.

Probably no company has been more on the receiving end of congressional attention than GM, whose widely scattered factories, suppliers and dealership network put it in touch with nearly every U.S. congressional district. After committing $58 billion to keep the company afloat, the federal government took a 60% stake in the auto maker when the slimmed-down GM emerged from bankruptcy.

In May, even before the government’s ownership became official, lawmakers erupted when GM disclosed it planned to produce a new subcompact car at its factories in China. Under congressional pressure, GM dropped those plans and promised instead to retool an existing U.S. facility in Michigan, Wisconsin or Tennessee for the new model.

Lawmakers from those states demanded and received high-level meetings in Washington to quiz GM on the criteria for site selection and to tout their states. GM in the end picked a site in Michigan.

A judge today questioned the value of any testimony from Bernie Madoff’s right hand man — coldly declaring that anyone who could be hurt by Frank DiPascali is “in prison in Butner, North Carolina or at the bottom of a swimming pool someplace.”

You may recall that DiPascali, who ran Madoff’s scam for decades, showed up in court a few months ago to plead guilty and, pursuant to a deal with the prosecutors, who claim they need his cooperation, expected to go home the same day. The judge didn’t buy it and if his comments today are any indication, still doesn’t. Fine by me.

In the good old days (2007) houses in Greenwich sold for an average of 2.3 X their assessment. Today, it’s much closer to 1:1. Considering that assessment is supposed to be 70% of 2005 values, we’ve dropped around 56% from 2007 values. (or that’s what my math shows – wizards, pitch in here. Example: If house’s 2005 value was $1,000,000, its assessment would be $700,000 and its 2007 value (2.3 X. 700) $1,610,000. Today’s value of $700 = 44% of 1.61, right?) The five sales reported today seem to support this.

98 Orchard Street sold for $660,000, with an assessed value of $782,000.

102 W. Lyon Farm sold for $895,000, assessment is $1.154 million.

21 Gatefield Drive, purchased for $2.550 in 2004 and renovated in 2008 was listed that year for $3.675 and sold today for $2.595. ASssessment was just $2.1 million, but I wonder whether the improvements were picked up?

Dear Peter, thank you for yours of even date but I note with some concern that the promised payment for services is a little light. Kindly remit same immediately or I shall, regretfully, have no choice but to retract my endorsement of your candidacy. Your humble servant, Jeremy

As a lifelong resident I am indeed privileged to live in a community as vibrant and supportive as Greenwich. [he seems to have confused our town with a Magic Fingers mattress]

I live in a place where dedicated and caring people give of themselves to make their community a better place. I live in a place where volunteerism [the old, honest virtue of “The Lord helps those who help themselves” thrives. Folks like Walter Noel and Fredric Bourke just help themselves to whatever they want] I live in a place which has a wonderful school system, [Hamilton Avenue, New Lebanon, the Glenville Modular School and Western Junior High being just some of them] beautiful parks [ hour-and-a-half wait for the bathroom at Byram’s pool] a charm that few other communities are able to sustain.[especially because they, unlike Greenwich, have sound barriers blocking I-95 traffic noise].

I live in a place where we are so fortunate to have intelligent, responsive and responsible people wanting to be a part of government. [that’s why we pay $100,000 to attract a tax collector and fire our school superintendent every year]

It is simply not possible for everyone to agree on every action that a political figure undertakes or suggests. So, in deciding whom to vote for, it is most important to look at the candidate’s integrity, the body of their work, whether they have good intentions [hell, you get a freakin’ Nobel Prize, you got good intentions] and whether the course they want the town to travel corresponds with the voter’s own view of what is desirable and a viable course. [When they lack all of those qualities and you discover they have no idea where to lead the town, then just collect as much as you can from one of them and give them an endorsement]

I know Peter Tesei personally and …. I know that he recognizes that there are many difficult decisions yet to be made and is prepared to make them. [Shoving fired town employees off Town Hall’s steps at bayonet point being just one of those decisions he’s so eager to make. Running over small animals, putting puppies in blenders? Hey, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do].

I also know Lin Lavery [but unfortunately she lacked the financial willingness and wherewithal to get a letter from me so from now on it’s, “Lin who?] . I hope that Lin will continue to be a leader in the town [‘s Junior League and garden Club. Back to the Back Country, lady!]

On Election Day, however, no one can vote for two first selectmen. You can only vote for one. [Unless, of course, you follow the Chicago school of politics. I, for instance, will be voting early and often and I hope you will, too]

With the considerations I have set forth above, I will be casting my vote on Election Day for Peter Tesei. [See above]. As a resident of Greenwich [paid to do so by the Republican Party, it is my privilege duty to do so.]

It started when Peter Tesei called Lin Lavery “a yellow-bellied, scum-sucking liar” for claiming to have founded the Junior League’s “Kids in Crisis Center” five years before she’d moved to town. Lavery burst into tears, called Tesei “a mean little snot who rode the short bus to school” and the battle was joined.

Stung, Tesei demanded a retraction and Mr. Himes, mindful of local politics, disavowed his previous email and assured Greenwich Time that our First Selectman could indeed find his posterior, “provided he gets his head out of there first.”

Not satisfied, Tesei now says that his plans “to get a zillion, kabillion dollars” from the federal government were sabotaged by a Democratic mole. The point person on that task, he said, was Denise Savageau, the town’s conservation director.”She’s handling this – someone says they’re handling it, you trust they’re handling it.”

“Let’s point out that Denise Savageau’s husband is a member of the Demmerkrat Town Committee,” Tesei said. “There’s not necessarily an unbiased participant in these actions. Is she manipulating her actions to undermine my office? It certainly could give pause as to what her motivations are.”

“It’s a plot,” Tesei told FWIW’s Scusie, “a plot against me! But I know who’s doing it and I know where he’s hiding the ice cream over there on Mead Avenue. You’ll see, you’ll see. Ahahahahahahaha!”